MR.RAO: Ivanka, you are advising the leader of the free world.
You have a unique opportunity to bring about a huge drastic transformation across the world,
especially from the women's perspective that Cherie so eloquently spoke about.
In India, in Telangana, we do a bunch of things with the private sector as well.
We do-- we work with Cisco on a program called Women Rock-IT.
We also work with Microsoft, another U.S. company, in what is called Girls In Technology.
We also work with Facebook in what is called Boost Your Business.
We work with ICICI and a bunch of private sector players.
My question to you is, how can a government, be it the United States or India or any of
the province in India or across the world, how can a government ensure that we do more
in terms of policies for bringing in more women into the workforce, ensuring, that they
are skilled?
And also, how can we work with the private sector ensuring that we give a larger share
to women, which is what we've been talking about?
MS. TRUMP: Well, thank you.
And thank you for having me here today on this remarkable panel.
So much of what was said was deeply inspiring
and I agree with wholeheartedly.
So one thing I'd just like to throw out there is these aren't women's issues.
We're half the population.
So we have to just start thinking about them
as critical issues, not women's issues.
So the role of strong male voices in this conversation,
to Cherie's point, is very, very important.
Also, going back to something else you said, Cherie, I think
one of the reasons we're seeing an explosion of Women's
Entrepreneurship is because traditional workplaces often
haven't worked for us.
We are disproportionately providing unpaid care,
while also needing to support our families financially.
In the vast majority of American homes now, all parents work.
So women are working, supporting their families,
and providing unpaid care.
And often and, you know, after years and years, generations,
these cultural, social, work institutions
were not set up with the assumption
that there would be two parents in the workforce.
So we just have to fundamentally change things.
It's starting to happen in the corporate world,
albeit, typically, at larger companies, not
smaller companies.
It's a lot harder in terms of flexibility,
traditionally, for people in tech and in finance
making more money, not for women working at the lower income
end of the spectrum.
So I think that's where government policy comes in.
And we need to start thinking about ways
to support the modern workforce and the modern reality
of dual income households.
I think technology is a great driver of entrepreneurship,
because a lot of women are leaving and saying,
this doesn't work for me.
And it's emboldening them to go out on their own.
Technology is reducing barriers to starting new businesses.
It's creating flexibility around schedule.
So you can work just as many hours or more,
but maybe you work some of them after you've
put your child to sleep from your living room
or from your kitchen table.
So I think technology offers tremendous opportunities
to women and women entrepreneurs.
And we're seeing that in terms of the explosive global growth
and domestic growth we're experiencing in the United States.
But going back to public policy, I think
it's incredibly important we have policies that support
the modern working family.
You see in tax reform the expansion,
the vast expansion, of the child tax credit,
recognizing the massive investment parents make into their families at a time
when wages have stagnated for so long and working parents really need relief,
the child and dependent care tax credit, tackling the cost of child care,
and the fact that it's not only inaccessible in large portions
of the country, particularly in rural America,
but the cost is enormous to many American parents.
And they're unable to afford to provide high quality childcare.
So that's another issue we're addressing.
So you see some of that agenda coming
to life through components of tax reform.
And coming into the new year, you will hopefully see it in a
National Paid Family Leave Program that we're working hard
to build coalitions of support for.
The President included it for the first time
ever in his budget this year, paid family leave maternity,
paternity adoption.
And I'm very encouraged by that step.
And we'll be working with Congress to try and pass
what is a long overdue policy.
So that's where you have public policy and many other things
we're doing.
This is a panel focused on skills training and workforce development.
And we're really seeking to fuel that and make sure
that we have the best trained next generation
K through 12, rethinking what we're teaching,
and the alignment of what's being taught in the classroom
with the jobs available in the economies into which
the students are graduating, but also worker retraining
and skills training for older workers, whose jobs have been
displaced or are looking for new opportunities
in their own lives as well.
So this is an area we've been very focused on
and I can talk about in more detail if the conversation takes us there.
But you'd mention the private sector.
And I can't say how important this is.
I mean, it's really -- all innovation comes from the private sector.
That's where it starts.
That's where it originates. And government --
And thank you to all of you out there
and the incredible entrepreneurs who
are taking some of the world's greatest challenges
and obstacles, whether it's humanitarian aids
or just providing a service better or reinventing
or inventing a new idea.
So it's incredibly exciting what you're doing.
But government's role is to help fuel that,
to eliminate barriers, to create an environment in which you
can really accomplish your dreams and your goals.
And we're seeking to do that domestically.
And I'm very excited about the work
we're doing internationally to create opportunities
for entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs, especially
in the developing world.
MR.
RAO: Fabulous.